A Troll asserted: It is implausible to have an ulterior motive for going to church

Perhaps one might not even be saved to begin with though at one time you went to church, but did so with an ulterior motive of some kind.

Someone commented and disagreed with my statement about the possibility of people having ulterior motive as the reason they go to church. In his/her own words:

In this region, children are expected to attend church until they reach high school age. I can’t imagine what ulterior motive some elementary or middle school kid might have for attending church. Could be a failure of imagination on my part, but this just sounds implausible.

According to this individual, going to church for ulterior motive “just sounds implausible.” The person did admit that it can be the failure of his or her imagination. It’s not just a lack of imagination that’s the problem; in light of the given data from the Christian scripture, church history, current events and Christian living which testify that people do go to church for other hidden reasons short of glorifying God, it seems more likely it is the willful ignorance on the part of our troll that denies the plausibility of people going to church with ulterior motives. Since going to church is a very real phenomena, I think it’s worth taking a closer look.

This particular troll on our page has the nasty habit of assuming that I’m talking about things… that I am not talking about. In my original post I was NOT talking about kids but somehow this person thinks I’m talking about kids. You see our troll repeat this pattern in our discussion.

Simultaneously there’s also a lack of imagination from the troll that the discussion isn’t only about kids. When I wrote the post I had adults in mind who attend church with ulterior motives. Somehow it doesn’t cross the mind of the troll that adults in church can also have ulterior motive.

Since we are on the topic of kids, our troll states “I can’t imagine what ulterior motive some elementary or middle school kid might have for attending church.” To help with his imagination, here are two easy steps that can help him: 1.) Identify what non-spiritual things kids enjoy. 2.) Does the church in any way facilitate any of the n0n-spiritual things kids enjoy? If the church does, one should now be able to imagine possible ulterior motives that kids can have for attending church. Getting prizes, receiving candies, making friends, etc., are not bad things in of itself but if they are the only reason or are reasons that ends up undermining the spiritual reasons for going to church, you now have an ulterior motive at hand.

Our troll’s first sentence also commits the fallacy of a false dichotomy: That’s because being expected to attend church and having an ulterior motive for church attendance are logically speaking not mutually exclusive.

It’s not always easy to judge people’s motive since we are finite and we are not God. But God knows the motives of people and in His Word He does clearly reveal that the phenomenon of people participating in church with ulterior sinful motives is very real. Note Jude 4 and Jude 12 which states respectively, “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehandmarked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ,” and “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.” This was not just the case in Jude’s context but also in latter times since Jude goes on to say “‘In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.;19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, [s]devoid of the Spirit“ (Jude 18b-19). 2 Peter reinforce the truth taught by Jude.

Doesn’t church history attests that people have joined the church with ulterior motives? Church history is ugly with sin, partly because true believers still sin and also because people attend and participate in church with motives short of glorifying God. Do we not see people participate in the church for power? Do we not see people participate in the church with the motivation of greed, sexual immorality and even affluence?

Honest and discerning Christian living attests to the reality that ulterior motives for going to church is very real. A Christian can begin with looking within their own hearts: Have there been times a believer gone to church for other reasons other than for God? With the passing of time do Christians not see those same ulterior motives in others? How can it be said as “implausible” that people can lose sight of what it is all about in attending church? Does not the Christian life attests that there are motivations that consume people more than the motivation of seeking God as why they attend church such as finding a girlfriend, finding a future spouse, participating in activities, being thought highly of, having friends, free food, not to be bored, pride of belonging, opportunities to perform and idolizing a leader?

From point 8 above, I think it is ironic of how blind our troll is with his or her inability to not recognize that some of the very reasons our troll identified as why people leave the church are also the ulterior motives for people to attend church: “Abusive authoritarian leadership, lack of opportunity to serve, being treated as an outsider,” (the very words of our troll) are flipped around and correspond respectively to the motivation of idolizing the leadership, opportunities to perform and pride of belonging.

We don’t want the solution to our trolls’ identified motivation for leaving the church to be replaced by enabling the ulterior motives people have for going to church. We need a deeper reason for going to church and that deeper reason must be spiritual: May the Gospel be the reason! The Gospel of course is about God. It is about a holy and good God. Of course in relations to God we are sinners. We broke His laws. God as just judge must judge our sins. Sinners are thus in trouble. That’s the bad new. The Good News is His saving love is shown through Jesus Christ. He lived perfectly. Died for our sins terribly. He died to legally forgive our debt of sin before God. We are redeemed and we are saved through this act of Grace when we trusted in Him. From that amazing grace we have received, we then want to lovingly obey Him. That includes fellowship with His people, the Church. What was once hard is now a light yoke, because of a heart of worship that beats with the pulse “Loving obedience, loving obedience, because He loved me, and saved me from my sins!”

Just throwing this out there, but is it possible that your “Troll,” as you put it was out to get your goat and to have you fume over their comment? If that was their motive, it appears they succeeded. I thought their comment, at best, was ridiculous and definitely not worth stewing over. Oh well, that’s my two cents on the matter.

I’m southern and country, so I’ve been hearing that phrase all my life. I’ve been following you long enough to observe certain mannerisms with your writing. This one seemed a bit off from your normal responses. It’s all good though.

Get your goat – fairly common expression over here Jim. If that was his intention it gave the opportunity for to say some helpful things. There are so many people like your Troll that have a completely unrealistic view of sin. Only the Christian has a true view of human nature and that’s only because God has revealed it to us. Otherwise we would be as much in the dark as that poor blind Troll. Only in Christ do we have the cure. So to use another expression, if your Troll wants to ‘get real’ he needs to get saved! Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved!

Good point, very good good point. We must never forget that works righteousness often drives people’s religiosity when they see going to church or participating in it is a means of earning God’s favor, or even thinking “God will be so impressed if I did _____.” Very good point. The danger of self-righteousness!